Margaret Conrad

Professor and Canada Research Chair, University of New Brunswick

A member of Acadia University’s History Department from 1969 to 2002, Professor Conrad was appointed a Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada Studies at the University of New Brunswick in 2002. She also held Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University (1996-1998). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1995), awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal (2002), and appointed Officer of the Order of Canada (2004) for her achievements in the writing and promotion of Canadian history.

Professor Conrad has published widely in the fields of Atlantic Canada and women’s history. Her major works include: with James K. Hiller, Atlantic Canada: A Region in the Making (Oxford University Press 2001), which was expanded and republished as Atlantic Canada: A Concise History (Oxford University Press 2006); George Nowlan: Maritime Conservative in National Politics (University of Toronto Press 1986); with Toni Laidlaw and Donna Smyth, No Place Like Home: The Diaries and Letters of Nova Scotia Women, 1771-1938 (Formac 1988); and, with Alvin Finkel, three widely used textbooks on Canadian history. She was a founding member of the Editorial Board of Atlantis: A Women’s Studies Journal, which she co-edited from 1977 to 1985, and she served as co-editor of the Canadian Historical Review from 1997-2000.

Professor Conrad has served on the Canadian Historical Association Council (1977-80), Executive Committee of the Association for Canadian Studies (1981-83), National Archives Board (1987-91), and Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (1990-96) and was president of the Canadian Historical Association from 2005 to 2007. She currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Lafontaine-Baldwin Symposium, Canada’s National History Society, and the Historica Council of the Historica-Dominion Institute. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Council of Canadian Academies, and chairs the External Committee of Experts on Commemorations for the National Capital Commission.

Professor Conrad’s research focuses on aspects of Atlantic Canada history as a means of enhancing the discussion of how individuals, groups, and governments in the region position themselves to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. This and other projects are showcased on the Atlantic Canada Portal (http://atlanticportal.hil.unb.ca) designed to explore the potential of humanities computing. She is also a co-investigator in a major collaborative research project designed to explore how Canadians engage the past in their everyday lives, Canadians and Their Pasts.

For a list of publications and additional information, see: http://people.unb.ca/~mconrad.

Publications, Grants, and Presentations

“It Was All About Me: Making History Relevant,” The Canadian Historical Review 92(4) (2011): 694-721. PDF of article.

"A Brief Survey of Canadian Historiography." In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

With Natalie Dubé, David Northrup, and Keith Owre. “‘I Want to Know My Bloodline’: New Brunswickers and Their Pasts.” Journal of New Brunswick Studies 1 (2010), 1-28. Available at http://journals.hil.unb.ca/index.php/JNBS/article/view/18188.

“Remembering Firsts: Female Politicians in the Atlantic Provinces in the Twentieth Century.” In Making Up the State: Women in 20th-Century Atlantic Canada, edited by Janet Guildford and Suzanne Morton, 57-77. Fredericton: Acadiensis Press, 2010.

With Sasha Mullally. “Women, History, and Information and Communications Technologies.” Atlantis 32(4) (2010): 43-54.

With James K. Hiller. Atlantic Canada: A History, 2nd ed. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 2010.

With Jocelyn Létourneau and David Northrup. "Canadians and Their Pasts: An Exploration in Historical Consciousness." The Public Historian 31(1) (2009): 15-34.

With Alvin Finkel. History of the Canadian Peoples, Vol. 1: Beginnings to1867, 5th ed. Toronto: Pearson Longman, 2009.

With Alvin Finkel. History of the Canadian Peoples, Vol 2: 1867 to the Present, 5th ed. Toronto: Pearson Longman, 2009.

"Navigating Historical Controversies with Integrity." Public History in Canada, 2008.

"History Does Matter: The Future of the Past in Atlantic Canada." Literary Review of Canada 16(8) (2008): 3-5.

"Public History and its Discontents, or History in the Age of Wikipedia." Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 2008: 1-26.

With Corey Slumkoski and Lisa Charlong. "History on the Internet: The Atlantic Canada Portal." Acadiensis XXXVII (1) (2008):100-09.

Edited with Alvin Finkel. Nation and Society: Readings in Post-Confederation Canadian History, 2nd ed. Toronto: Pearson Longman, 2008.

Edited with Alvin Finkel. Foundations: Readings in Pre-Confederation Canadian History, 2nd ed. Toronto: Pearson Longman, 2008.

Co-creator of four websites of primary documentary materials and learning resources for the Atlantic Canada Virtual Archives (http://atlanticportal.hil.unb.ca/acva/)

Contested Terrain: Aboriginal Land Petitions in New Brunswick, 1786-1878 (2010)
The MacDonald Family Letters, 1779-1801 (2009)
Loyalist Women in New Brunswick, 1783-1827 (2008)
Black Loyalists in New Brunswick, 1783-1854 (2008)